Red Action was a militant anti-fascist group formed in late 1981. Originating in the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), its members were expelled for ‘squadism’ – the tactic that the group became best known for – confronting fascists directly, on the streets.
The group’s formation was noted in an SDS-authored intelligence report in January 1982. It was thereafter targeted by HN82 ‘Nicholas Green’, HN25 ‘Kevin Douglas’ and HN15 Mark Jenner (‘Mark Cassidy’) until the mid-1990s. Red Action was listed as a main target for the SDS in their annual reports for much of this period.
Former Red Action activist, Mark Hayes, outlined the political positions and activities of the group in ‘Red Action – left-wing political pariah: some observations regarding ideological apostasy and the discourse of proletarian resistance’. This brief summary owes much to this detailed essay.
Hayes said that the group positioned itself as a defender of ‘working-class interests’ and viewed traditional leftist organisations as ineffective in confronting both fascism and class oppression. Red Action eschewed orthodox Trotskyism in favour of a ‘direct, unapologetic and distinctly proletarian political language’.
Aside from anti-fascism, Red Action was best known for its critical engagement with Irish Republican politics, making several trips to Northern Ireland.
Most prominently, though, Red Action was one of the driving forces behind the formation in 1985 of Anti-Fascist Action (AFA), an organisation that combined ‘physical force anti-fascism’ with what it termed ‘ideological anti-fascism’.
This coalition also included many anarchists and other assorted anti-fascists.
AFA had a policy of No Platform for fascists, seeking to deny fascists any opportunity to organise, speak publicly, or march.
Red Action and AFA considered their anti-fascism to be rooted in ‘working-class solidarity and self-organisation’. They rejected alliances with liberal anti-racists, seeing these coalitions as ineffective.
Through its newspaper Red Action, the group attempted to develop a political culture based on class pride, resistance, and a critique of both left-wing orthodoxies and right-wing extremism. However, Hayes also noted that this unapologetic militancy led many on the left to treat Red Action as a ‘political pariah’ – ‘too rough, too physical, too unorthodox’.
Hayes emphasised how Red Action differentiated itself from other left-wing groups — particularly the SWP and the Anti-Nazi League.
In the 1990s, Red Action shifted its focus to community politics, attempting to build localised working-class political alternatives, which included standing independent candidates in elections, often via the Independent Working Class Association. This group was also spied on by HN15 Mark Jenner (‘Mark Cassidy’).
Source
Mark Hayes. Red Action – left-wing political pariah: some observations regarding ideological apostasy and the discourse of proletarian resistance.